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Andrew Wilkinson vs Karl Hughes

Products, revenue & stack compared side by side.

Andrew Wilkinson avatar

Andrew Wilkinson

Co-founder of Tiny and MetaLab, buying and holding wonderful internet businesses

@awilkinson Canada
Karl Hughes avatar

Karl Hughes

Former CTO who built Draft.dev to $2.5M and now acquires podcast agencies

Andrew Wilkinson vs Karl Hughes at a glance

Both Andrew Wilkinson and Karl Hughes are bootstrapped and are serial makers. They overlap in Acquirers & Indie Investors and Productized Services. Andrew is based in Victoria, Canada, Karl in Chicago, United States. Andrew started in 2006 and Karl in 2020. Andrew Wilkinson has 4 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Karl Hughes' 3. Karl self-reports $2.5M/yr (Draft.dev, 2022); Andrew hasn't shared a revenue figure publicly. On X, Andrew has about 392K followers and Karl about 3.8K.

Side-by-side comparison

Based in
Andrew Wilkinson: Victoria, Canada
Karl Hughes: Chicago, United States
Started
Andrew Wilkinson: 2006 (20 yrs indie)
Karl Hughes: 2020 (6 yrs indie)
Revenue (self-reported)
Andrew Wilkinson: Not public
Karl Hughes: $2.5M/yr (Draft.dev, 2022)self-reported, as of 2022 · source for Karl Hughes's revenue
Products listed
Andrew Wilkinson: 4
Karl Hughes: 3
Product status
Andrew Wilkinson: 4 active
Karl Hughes: 3 active
X followers
Andrew Wilkinson: 392K
Karl Hughes: 3.8K
Style
Andrew Wilkinson: bootstrappedserial maker
Karl Hughes: bootstrappedserial maker
Courses & resources
Andrew Wilkinson: 2
Karl Hughes: 3

Revenue figures are self-reported by each maker and not audited; dates and scope differ. Highlighted categories are shared by both.

Top products

Andrew Wilkinson avatarAndrew Wilkinson

Tiny logo

Tiny

tiny.com

Holding company that buys profitable internet and consumer businesses and holds them long term.

MetaLab logo

MetaLab

metalab.com

Product design agency known for interface work for companies like Slack, Coinbase and Uber.

Dribbble logo

Dribbble

dribbble.com

Community where designers share work and get hired, owned by Tiny.

Letterboxd logo

Letterboxd

letterboxd.com

Social platform for logging, rating and reviewing films; Tiny took a majority stake in 2023.

Karl Hughes avatarKarl Hughes

Draft.dev logo

Draft.dev

draft.dev

Technical content agency that writes developer-focused articles for software and devtools companies.

$2.5M+ in 2022
The Podcast Consultant logo

The Podcast Consultant

thepodcastconsultant.com

Podcast editing and production service for financial and business podcasts, acquired in 2023.

Rise25 logo

Rise25

rise25.com

Done-for-you B2B podcast service that helps founders use podcasts for growth and networking.

Tech stack

No tools in common in their publicly listed stacks. See the indie maker tech stack.

Andrew Wilkinson avatarAndrew Wilkinson

No stack shared publicly.

Karl Hughes avatarKarl Hughes

No stack shared publicly.

How they build

Andrew Wilkinson avatarAndrew Wilkinson

  • Buy wonderful businesses and let the existing teams run them.
  • Prefer profitable, durable businesses with real moats over speculative bets.
  • Hire great operators and design yourself out of day-to-day work.
  • Give founders a fast, straightforward exit that protects their team and culture.

Karl Hughes avatarKarl Hughes

  • Productized services can scale into substantial businesses without venture capital.
  • Buying an existing service business gives you a running company on day one.
  • Protect margins through disciplined service fulfillment.
  • Build a business you can sustain to avoid founder burnout.

Learn from Andrew and Karl

Andrew Wilkinson vs Karl Hughes FAQ

Who makes more money, Andrew Wilkinson or Karl Hughes?

Karl Hughes self-reports $2.5M/yr (Draft.dev, 2022). Andrew Wilkinson's revenue is not public, so a direct comparison isn't possible.

Who has built more products, Andrew Wilkinson or Karl Hughes?

Andrew Wilkinson has 4 products listed (including Tiny, MetaLab and Dribbble); Karl Hughes has 3 products listed (Draft.dev, The Podcast Consultant and Rise25).

Where are Andrew Wilkinson and Karl Hughes based?

Andrew Wilkinson: Victoria, Canada. Karl Hughes: Chicago, United States.

Who has been an indie maker longer, Andrew Wilkinson or Karl Hughes?

Andrew Wilkinson started in 2006 (20 years indie); Karl Hughes started in 2020 (6 years indie).

Are Andrew Wilkinson and Karl Hughes bootstrapped?

Yes, both are listed as bootstrapped founders on IndieMakerList.

Full profiles

Read the full story, timeline and links on Andrew Wilkinson's profile and Karl Hughes's profile.

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